‘Goliath’, the giant Galapagos tortoise in Miami, becomes a father at 134 years old

Miami.- The Galapagos tortoise ‘Goliath’, the longest-lived animal at the Miami Zoo, will doubly celebrate Father’s Day by turning 134 years old and becoming a father for the first time, the zoo announced this Friday.

The animal witnessed the hatching of its first offspring after 128 days of incubation. The egg, one of eight laid by the female turtle ‘Sweet Pea’ on January 27, finally broke its shell on June 4, a statement indicated.

‘Goliath’, who weighs 235 kilos (517 pounds), was born on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos on June 15, 1885, arrived at the Bronx Zoo in New York on July 23, 1929, before permanently settling at the Miami Zoo from July 30, 1981.

The mother, ‘Sweet Pea’, must be between 85 and 100 years old, having arrived at the former Crandon Park Zoo in Key Biscayne, Florida, in 1960, to move a few years later to the Miami Zoo. Although ‘Goliath’ had relationships with several females during his stay at the Miami Zoo, he never managed to father offspring, the zoo clarified.

Both ‘Goliath’ and ‘Sweet Pea’ are doing well in their public habitat, while the offspring appears to be healthy and has been removed from the incubator and placed in a separate enclosure, where it remains active and full of energy.

You may be interested in: May 23: World Turtle Day

In nature, the offspring are alone from the moment they emerge from the egg and their parents no longer have any bond with them, explains the zoo’s statement. Miami Zoo staff has officially requested the Guinness World Records to recognize ‘Goliath’ as the “Oldest First-Time Father in History”, and since the combined age of ‘Goliath’ and ‘Sweet Pea’ exceeds 200 years, the zoo also proposes to recognize them as the “World’s Oldest First-Time Parents”. The birth of the hatchling, which does not yet have a name, is an unprecedented event not only for ‘Goliath’, but also for the zoo, as it is the first time in its history that a Galapagos giant tortoise has been born on its premises.